Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley went head-to-head onstage in Des Moines, Iowa on Wednesday night, marking the first two-candidate showdown of the 2024 election cycle. The primary debate, hosted by CNN, saw the two Republican candidates tread familiar ground in their longstanding rivalry, spending most of the event accusing each other of lying and flip-flopping.
But was any of it enough to help either one catch up to former President Donald Trump before the Iowa Caucuses next week?
Here are a few of the key takeaways from the CNN primary debate between Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley:
Donald Trump Wins By Refusing to Play
Former President Trump, the uncontested frontrunner who leads both DeSantis and Haley by more than 50 points, declined to participate in CNN’s event, as he did with the four previous RNC-sponsored events last year. Instead, Trump participated in a live town hall event hosted by Fox News a few miles away in downtown Des Moines.
While DeSantis and Haley both criticized Trump for refusing to engage in an open debate with his competitors, the former president’s absence may once again have worked in his favor. Without his dominant presence onstage, the other candidates spent most of their time attacking each other instead, mentioning Trump only a handful of times.
DeSantis and Haley both agreed that Trump should have appeared alongside them to defend his presidential record, including his contribution to the national deficit and his response to the COVID pandemic.
Haley took a swipe at Trump’s tendency to embrace “drama” and “vengeance” in his 2024 campaign, accused him of election denialism, and said that he “will answer” for his role in the January 6 riot. However, she also knocked DeSantis by claiming that Trump, not the Florida governor, is her only real competition.
I wish Donald Trump was on the stage with us now. He’s the one I’m running against.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 11, 2024
DeSantis also briefly attacked Trump’s record, accusing him of flip-flopping on the pro-life cause, failing to fight gender ideology, and not delivering on his promise to “drain the swamp” in 2016.
Donald Trump should be on this stage. He owes it to you here in Iowa to explain:
Why he's flip-flopped on pro-life issues.
Why he has a tough time saying whether a man can become a woman or not.
Why he wants to build a billion dollar big beautiful new FBI building right in the… pic.twitter.com/73pl0mQEhI
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 11, 2024
Donald Trump is running to pursue his issues.
Nikki Haley is running to pursue her donors’ issues.
I’m running to pursue your issues, your family’s issues, and to turn this country around. pic.twitter.com/srace9EkPL
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 11, 2024
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Lies, Lies, Lies…
Once the jabs at Trump were finished, DeSantis and Haley were left with ample time to attack each other’s credibility.
At the very onset of the debate, DeSantis called Haley a “mealymouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear just to try to get your vote.”
“One good rule of thumb: If Nikki Haley says she’s never said something, that definitely means she said it,” DeSantis declared later in the debate. “Then she’ll say ‘you’re lying you’re lying,’ that means not only did she say it — but she’s on video tape saying it.”
One good rule of thumb: If Nikki Haley says she’s never said something, that definitely means she said it.
Then she’ll say ‘you’re lying you’re lying,’ that means not only did she say it — but she’s on video tape saying it. pic.twitter.com/x1K5ay1hFC
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 11, 2024
Meanwhile, DeSantis’ campaign team released a video of Haley’s efforts to make voters “believe her over your own lyin’ eyes,” showing her various flip-flopping positions.
Nikki Haley wants you to believe her over your own lyin’ eyes. pic.twitter.com/b8cQoAVKxr
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 10, 2024
At various points in the debate, DeSantis also accused Haley of lying about school choice legislation, not protecting gender-specific bathrooms, and caving to the “woke mob.”
At the same time, Haley hit back by repeatedly calling DeSantis a liar (almost ad nauseam) and attempting to fact-check his every word with a new campaign website: desantislies.com.
“What we’re going to do is rather than have him go and tell you all these lies, you can go to DeSantislies.com and look at all of those,” she said. “Every time he lies…don’t turn this into a drinking game because you will be overserved by the end of the night.”
Haley promoted this new site a total of 16 times, according to CNN’s transcripts (if you took a drink every time she mentioned it, you would have been equally inebriated…).
DeSantis vs. Haley: A Battle for Second Place?
With just four days until the critical Iowa Caucuses on January 15, both candidates were eager to cement their position as the Republican Party’s best alternative to Donald Trump. Additionally, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie exited the race hours before the debate, which left a small percentage of the voting base up for grabs.
On issues like immigration, tax reform, and government spending, DeSantis and Haley fought to be the toughest, promising deportations, border security, balanced budgets, and tax cuts. But on other hot-button issues, specifically abortion, the two candidates were noticeably softer, promising a more conciliatory response that addressed concerns from both sides of the debate.
Snap polls taken after the debate were, as expected, divided about which candidate performed better. An expert assessment from the New York Post declared Haley the winner based on her “confidence” and “poise” and DeSantis’ lack of “humor and charm.” Experts from the New York Times, on the other hand, observed that Haley struggled to outshine DeSantis, saying that the Florida governor stood a far better chance of gaining momentum in the upcoming caucuses. The Wall Street Journal sided with Haley, while the Daily Mail broke overwhelmingly for DeSantis. Even CNN’s own assessment was divided between the two.
However, in almost every case, experts and poll-takers remained unsure if either candidate has picked up enough momentum to rival Donald Trump in Iowa on Monday, followed by New Hampshire later next week.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer covering politics, culture, and business for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X (Twitter).
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